The Flesh of Language

The Flesh of Language establishes a parallel between interspecies and paranormal communication to engage with the barrier that typically separates science from esotericism—drawing connections between zoological research related to the extinct “Irish Elk,” parapsychologist Konstantin Raudive’s EVP tape recordings and tactics of media preservation as explained by an archivist. Rice’s disparate assemblage of found sound and image draw analogies between extinct deer and dying media formats which come to a head in a choreographed, exuberant species-resurrection scene.